Shoulder-brace suspender



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

B. J. GREELEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOULDER-BRACE SUSPENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,424, dated June 1, 1858.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN J. GREELEY, of Springiield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Shoulder-Brace Suspender; and I do declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents the application of my improvement as it actually appears on the person and attached to and supporting the pantaloons.

My improved suspender as shown at Figs. l and 2 is attached to the pantaloons at two (instead of four) points only, viz, at the sides of the waistbands directly over the hips giving the wearer full power to use a forward stooping or a sitting posture without straining off buttons or as is very frequently the case in the old suspender, tearing out the cloth around the butt-ons.

To construct my improved suspender I use the ordinary suspender material, taking for the purpose two piecesof unequal length, one end of the larger piece being used as the tongue for the buckle on the back, as shown at A, A.

The position of the Suspender on the back is shown at Fig. l, and the points of attachment to the waistbands of the pantaloons at B, B.

To adapt my improved suspender to pantaloons of unequal length, at the points of attachment I make use of the ordinary method of increasing or diminishing by the strap and buckle. I also make use of a buckle. A, to tighten or loosen t-he suspender on the back.

My improved suspender is easily put on and adjusted much in the same way that a vest is put on.

By attaching at the sides instead of the A front and back a great advantage is gained from the fact that in stooping or sitting down, these points of attachment remain very nearly in the same relative posit-ion as when the person stands upright.

The most beneficial operation however in the use of my shoulder brace suspender is its action in drawing back the shoulders instead of as in the old form, pressing down upon them, while at the same time amply suflicient support isl given to the pantaloons by holding them up at the two best point-s. The arms, shoulders and chest have necessarily a much better play and the latter' particularly in walking is kept more free and expanded.

I do not claim the invention of either shoulder' braces or Suspenders, as they have both been long known and used; nor do I claim anything as set forth in Daniel Minthorns patent granted J une 5, 1855 for an liomjproved brace for supporting garments,

That I claim and desire to secure by Let-- ters Patent, is-

The arrangement and combination of two straps of unequal length joined and running over the shoulders and across the back and attached at two points on the sides of the waistbands of pantaloons operating as a shoulder brace and a suspender substantially as herein set forth.

B. J. GREELEY.

lVitnesses E. A. MORRIS, R. B. HILDRETH. 

